Rowing Freshmen Make Program History at Dad Vail
PHILADELPHIA (May 14, 2016) – For their second consecutive race weekend, the Franklin Pierce University rowing program's Freshman Four put up a great fight and rowed a fantastic race, only to fall 1.25 seconds short of the team's first ever trip to the finals, at the 78th Dad Vail Regatta.
The weekend of racing began on Friday, when the Freshman Four of Hannah Eldridge (Whitinsville, Mass.), Kyra Fairley (Kingston, N.Y.), Marykate Cullinane (Medford, Mass), Julia Canova (Avon, Conn.) and Onyeris Lopez-Maldonado (Hyde Park, Mass.) made Franklin Pierce history by becoming the first-ever Ravens boat to earn a trip to the semifinals at the Dad Vail, by placing third in their qualifying heat.
The Freshman Four claimed the third spot with a time of 8:34.858, behind heat winner Central Oklahoma (8:17.291) and the eventual event winner and gold medalists, Duquesne University (8:24.708), and in front of the fourth place Florida Gators (9:18.163) and Endicott College (9:20.109).
The third-place finish earned the Ravens a spot in lane #1 of a very competitive six-boat semifinal field, which included three D1 programs in Virginia Tech, Purdue University and James Madison University, as well as the New England Champions in Bowdoin College and perennial Dad Vail medalists, Grand Valley State University.
In spite of the poor lane assignment and having had the second-slowest time of all six boats in the heats, the Ravens flew off the start line and set the pace for what would be the fastest and most competitive of the three freshman semifinal races on Saturday morning.
The Ravens got off to a great start and executed a very aggressive race plan that allowed them to hold onto the top spot through the first 500 meters of the race, before Virginia Tech -- the eventual silver medal winner of the event -- caught them at the halfway point of the 2000-meter race. For the final half of the race, Franklin Pierce was locked in a stroke-for-stroke battle with New England champions, Bowdoin College. The closest the Ravens had come to downing the Bears all season was two weeks prior, at the New England Rowing Championships, where Bowdoin won gold, finishing six seconds ahead of fourth-place Franklin Pierce. The two crews battled all the way to finish line, with Bowdoin finishing 1.25 seconds ahead of Pierce to claim the second spot and move on to the Grand Final. The Ravens finished the race in 8:08.751, nearly 26 seconds faster than their time in Friday's qualifying heats. Final results for the semifinal were:
1. Virginia Tech 08:03.196
2 Bowdoin 08:07.498
3 Franklin Pierce 08:08.751
4 James Madison 08:27.540
5 Purdue 08:30.359
6 Grand Valley St 08:37.498
The Freshman Four finished eighth overall in a field of 33 boats, ahead of Nova Southeastern, Emory, Delaware, Army, Villanova, MIT, Fordham, Penn State University, University of Chicago, Bucknell, Rutgers, UMass-Lowell, Marquette and the University of Cincinnati, to name a few. This was the best finish ever by a Franklin Pierce Crew at the Dad Vail Regatta in the program's 20-year history.
"I couldn't be prouder of those young women," said head coach David DeIuliis. "The odds were stacked against them in the semifinals. They changed their race plan, rowed a much more aggressive race, nearly pulled off a huge upset against Bowdoin and finished only five seconds behind Virginia Tech. They gave both of those crews a huge scare and they set the tone for the future of Franklin Pierce rowing."
Franklin Pierce also fielded a Varsity Four and a Varsity Pair at the Dad Vail. The Varsity Four was led by sophomore coxswain Grace Walker (Greenfield, Mass.), along with freshman Shelby Telega (South Deerfield, Mass.), freshman Mackenzie Hitch (Oregon, Ohio), sophomore Danielle Clarke (Fairfield, Conn.) and freshman Rebecca Davies (Township of Washington, N.J.). The boat finished 24th overall, with a time of 7:38.454 in Friday's 1900-meter time trial, six spots away from qualifying for the semi finals.
The Varsity Pair, comprised of junior Kirsten Salois (Pelham, N.H.) and junior Nicole Rode (Thomaston, Conn.) finished in 20th place overall, just two sports away from a trip to the semifinals, with a time of 8:40.993.
For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce rowing apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).